


The Time The Car Broke Down

by QuietBubbles



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Banter, Car Accidents, Comfort, Funny, M/M, Romance, Scary Movies, Spooky, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 21:12:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14601822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietBubbles/pseuds/QuietBubbles
Summary: When you're driving along a lonely road in the middle of a night, having just watched the scariest movie either of you can remember...what's the worst thing that could happen?One-Shot. Rated for language. Just for fun! Hope you enjoy xxx





	The Time The Car Broke Down

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Hope you enjoy this silly one-shot! Love to all xxx

_"Mary_!” Daniel cried out as the demon closed in on him. “ _Mary, mother of God, help me_!”

 The creature gave a terrible laugh, its twisted horns glistening with a dark liquid that might have been blood. With long, white fingers, it crept up Daniel’s paralysed body with the agility of an ape, its bones creaking and clacking inside its matted white fur. It moved as if every part of it was detached inside, as inhuman as it was possible to be. As soon as its hungry, red eyes were level with Daniel’s own-it opened its jaws far wider than should have been possible, showing row after row of yellowed fangs. Then-a scarlet forked tongue snaked forth, licking and spitting closer and closer to Daniel’s horrified face.

 Daniel could hardly move for fear. He knew that he was about to be killed, that no one was coming to save him, for everyone was dead, that he had mere moments left before he would be ripped from his body and dragged down to the deepest depths of Hell…and yet-he narrowed his eyes. His fist clutched at the crucifix around his neck, and his lips began to move in prayer.

 “ _Hail Mary, full of grace, our lord is with thee…Holy Mary, Mother of-arrgghh_!”

 With an earth-shacking crash of thunder, the demon thrust its hand into Daniel’s throat. No around it. _Into_ it, as easily as if it were butter. Daniel’s screams reached a crescendo-then were cut, as easily as a strike of lightning. Now elbow-deep in blood, the demon smiled with its horrible fangs as it drank upon the blood of its prey, that forked tongue licking like a hellish cat every trace of flesh it could reach. Then-it began to feast.

 All the while-Daniel’s eyes were wide open, shining with terror and burning, excruciating agony. He was being eaten alive…

 

 

 “Oh!” Dan cried out, covering his mouth with horror. He wanted desperately to close his eyes-but somehow, the muscles did not appear to be working, and so, trance-like, he was forced to watch as the hero of the movie was torn apart in unbearable detail.

 In the seat beside him in the almost-empty theatre, Phil’s hands were clutching the arm-rests either side of him so tightly that his knuckles were practically bursting through his skin. Like Dan, he seemed equally unable to close his eyes and block out the scene before him, nor to continue watching. Bolt-upright, he sat equally, horribly, entranced.

 When Daniel had finally slipped away, his eyes rolling back into his head with a guttural moan-the demon stopped. All was silent as it looked over the blood-soaked chaos of its own making. There was nothing of humanity left in the crypt of the church. It was as if a hole had been ripped in the very material of time, another reality bursting through. Hell had come to Earth.

 Then, just when it seemed as if the camera was about to cut out-a terrible, final shriek rattled the speakers, half-deafening the terrified audience.

 Finally…the screen was engulfed in darkness. As the final echos of the scream faded-the credits began to roll.

 Around the cinema, there was silence-then, a burst of relieved sighs and shaky laughter. As soft music began to play, the theatre-goers began to collect their bags and popcorn cartons, and made their way to the glowing “exit” sign. There was some quiet discussion of what they had just witnessed. It was clear by the reactions of all who were there that this was the scariest movie of the summer. Perhaps the scariest movie of _any_ summer. Nonetheless, _Hell’s Call_ was undeniably and completely _petrifying_.

 “Ooff…” Phil whistled under his breath, and gave a soft, nervous laugh. “That was…something…wasn’t it?”

 Dan turned to him, his eyes still wide as the ocean. He could not get that final shriek out of his head. “I am never sleeping again.”

 It was strange. Dan and Phil watched a great many horror movies together, the good and the bad. Often, after particularly bad ones, they could do nothing but giggle at the stupidity of the whole thing. After all, most horror movies _were_ trashy and stupid. Most of the scenarios could easily be avoided by the smallest application of common sense from the cast. Don’t investigate a creepy cellar with a faulty torch, don’t summon demons, don’t stay in a house clearly infested by spirits, don’t go into the woods alone at night…but _Hell’s Call_ was nothing like any of them. _Hell’s Call_ had shaken both of them to the core.

 Still-Phil forced a smile onto his face. “How creepy was that for _you_ , though? _He’s waiting for you, Daniel_ …” he hissed throatily, in a scarily accurate imitation of the demon’s voice, leaning closer and closer. “ _Daniel, Daniel_ …”

 “Oh, don’t!” Dan breathed out hard through his teeth, batting Phil away from him. “It was so weird! That’s what I get for having a common name!”

 “Well,” Phil leaned back in his seat, draining the last of his Coke. “I guess the critics were right. That _was_ genuinely scary…”

 “Yeah…” Dan breathed. His head was still swimming, his eyes misted with fear…but he made himself get to his feet, checking his pockets for his phone, keys, and wallet, before offering a hand to help Phil up. “Come on. I have never wanted a cup of tea more than at this moment. Let’s go home.”

 Phil reached up to take it-then, his eyes flashed behind his glasses, and a mischievous smile spread across his face. “ _Tea_ you there!”

 Dan paused for a moment, taking this in-before, with a long-suffering groan, he snatched his hand away. “I hate you, and I hate everything you stand for!” With that, he began to walk briskly along the row of theatre seats, away from Phil and his "puns" as fast as he could.

 “Noooo!” Phil scrambled to his feet, hurrying after Dan. “I’m sorry!” he wailed, still chuckling to himself. “Baby, come back to me!”

 “No!” Dan called back over his shoulder. “Goddammit, Phil, I’m sick of your bullshit. I want you packed and gone by the morning.”

 “By the morning? How generous of you.”

 “Yes,” said Dan-before letting up his pace. “I need you to stay tonight. I’m not sleeping in a flat on my own after watching that.” He made himself giggle a little, to show that he wasn’t serious. It wasn’t as if he was truly afraid of a fictional monster in a movie…

 Phil grinned, catching up to him. “Awwh, you need me, really.” He jabbed Dan lightly in the side as they walked down the catseye-lit stairs and into the theatre lobby.

 “I need you to stop making terrible puns. It’s not good for my blood pressure.” Dan murmured, rolling his eyes fondly.

 “Haha...Besides-what use would I be against a demon?” Phil said mildly as they wandered into the carpark. "I'm hardly Buffy." 

 “Well, you could try making a joke and it would leave out of sheer embarrassment.”

 “Or maybe I could throw you at it and escape.”

 This continued on this thread until they reached the car. The further they were from the dark theatre, loud speakers and the blood-soaked screen, the harder it was for Dan to feel scared of a make-believe creature in a film. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous he felt. It was just a figment of some writer’s imagination, nothing more…

 “Pretty good film though,” said Phil as he plugged in his seatbelt. “Might tweet about it tomorrow. At a more sociable hour.” He glanced at the luminous clock on the dashboard, which showed a quarter to twelve at night. “Whose idea was it to go to such a late showing?”

 “I didn’t realise it would be so long,” said Dan, folding one leg over the other and sitting back in the leather seat. “How much horror can one cram into two hours? I thought we were coming to the end when they got to the church, and it looked like they’d stopped the demon’s coming. But then…of course.” He waved his hands vaguely, indicating extreme demonic violence as Phil started the engine and pulled out of the space. Before long, they were driving out of the town centre and back towards the countryside roads that led homeward.

 Dan leaned against the glass of the window, looking out onto the fields and trees that passed by. The fields, so harmless and non-descript in the daytime, were suddenly endlessly black past the invisible horizon. The trees, so pleasant in the light of the sun were suddenly misshapen, recumbent shapes, shadowy in the darkness and glaring as they leapt into the brightness of the headlamps for a second, before being swallowed by the night. Lampposts were very sparse. Dan watched as they passed by, scolding himself for allowing his own imagination to run wild like this. For goodness sake, it was only a road. The exact same road they had driven along earlier that evening. Dan had thought nothing of it then, and it was ridiculous to do so now.

 Phil seemed unconcerned as he drove, humming softly under his breath. Still-Dan realised that he had turned up the headlamps much brighter than they needed to be. Hopefully they would not suddenly meet another car, for fear of dazzling the driver. But they were quite alone. Very, very alone, in fact. Dan had not seen a road this lonely at night for some time.

 “Quiet night, isn’t it?” Phil commented, concentrating. “Kind of weird, isn’t it…bit creepy…” Suddenly, a smirk sprung to his lips. “ _Daniel_ …” he hissed. “ _Daniel_ … _I’m going to devour your soul_ …”

 “Shut up!” Dan demanded. He gave a shaky laugh. Although it was only Phil, the demon voice still gave him the shivers. “I _will_ kill you.”

 “Then the car would career off the road and we’d crash, so we’d both be dead, wouldn’t we?” Phil said, unconcerned by Dan’s threat. He reached over and patted his knee without looking away from the road. “You’d never do it. You love me.”

 “Fake news.”

 “You are so mean!” Phil giggled, both hands returning to the wheel. “I’m wounded!”

 “You will be if you don’t stop doing that voice.” Dan said, doing his best to sound jovial-but he could not help a slight edge slipping into his tone.

 Phil paused for a moment-then, he burst out laughing. “Oh my God, you are actually scared!”

 “No I’m not!” Dan protested, wrapping his arms around himself. “Don’t be daft. Of course I’m not scared of a bloody film!”

 “You actually are!” Phil was still laughing, shaking his head. “Oh, you’re so funny! _Baby_ …” He reached out again, squeezing Dan’s knee. “That’s kind of adorable. And completely hilarious.”

 “I’m not scared!” Dan insisted, shrinking into himself. “Demons don’t exist, therefore there is nothing to be afraid of. Simple as that. And _you_ can talk! I saw you in the theatre, your knuckles were completely white!”

 “Yeah-in the cinema. During the film. Not any more.” Phil was very much enjoying himself. “Oh, are we going to have to use magic anti-monster spray under the bed tonight? Or find you a teddy bear?”

 “I swear Phil, if you don’t shut up right this second-“

 “Come on,” Phil smiled briefly at him, this time, a little softer. “Like you said. Nothing to be afraid of. Demons only exist in books, and on film reels. You don’t need to be scared.”

 “ _I’m not scared_!”

 “Yeah, whatever.” Phil chuckled. “Might put that in the tweet too. Horrified Howell.”

 “How about Pernicious Phil?”

 “Ooh, nice. You and your vocabulary.”

 “Or Lethal Lester?”

 “Ah-not so good that time. Danisveryafraid?”

 “Eh. They’re getting worse. We should stop before they…hold on…” Dan sat up straighter in his seat, looking out onto the road in front of them. Something had caught his eye. The fields and trees no longer seemed to be moving by as fast as they had before. In fact-the fields seemed to have disappeared. Now, only the long, reaching fingers of branches stretched over them as they entered a long stretch of woodland. The trees cast thin, distorted shadows over the car as they undeniably lost speed. “Phil…why are you slowing down?”

 “I’m not.” Phil said, frowning. He pressed his foot down harder, grasping the steering wheel as hard as he could.

 Dan was bolt upright by now. His eyes scanned the dashboard for changes. Everything seemed to be fine…and yet the car was undeniably juddering on at a slower and slower pace as they made their way further into the forest. The ground was grassless either side of the road-there was only mud and dirt. The canopy of trees overhead was getting thicker by the moment, plunging the road into pitch darkness ahead of the headlamps.

 “I don’t know what’s happening!” Phil was flabbergasted. He hit the steering wheel a few times with both hands, as if this would make any difference. But the car continued to slow down, down, down…until, with a little jolt that made Dan’s stomach drop to the floor-the car ground to a total halt.

 There was silence.

 Dan looked out at the darkness around him, feeling the cold night air creeping into his bones. Why had the car stopped? The lights were all flashing contentedly on the dashboard, the headlamps worked full glare…and yet they were no longer moving. Beside him, Phil was jamming his foot repeatedly on the pedals, to no avail. One thing was certain-this car was going nowhere.

 “I…I think we must have broken down!” Phil exclaimed.

 Deep inside Dan, the first seeds of panic began to take hold.

 Then, as quickly as they had come-they were doused. Dan almost leapt out of his seat as he turned to face Phil. “Oh, you absolute joker! Very funny, ha ha ha. Now, let’s get going before someone comes along and we cause the world’s stupidest traffic jam!”

 “I’m not kidding!” Phil was turning the key in the ignition, and tapping various buttons on the steering wheel. The headlamps blinked on and off, the windscreen wipers swept back and forth-but the car did not budge an inch. “Dan, I’m being serious. _The car isn’t starting_.”

 As he realised that Phil was telling the truth…panic began to truly set in. It was dark. It was scary. And they were trapped.

 “Look, don’t worry,” said Phil quickly, as if he had read Dan’s mind. Taking off his seatbelt, he searched his pockets until he found his mobile phone. “We’ll just call breakdown…unless you think we should take a look under the hood?”

 “For what, precisely?” Dan asked, trying to sound as if his voice had not leapt up an octave higher than usual. “What do either of us know about engines?” Besides…as Daniel looked out of the window onto the dark woods beyond, he knew that there was no _way_ he was getting out of the car…

 “Yeah, I think you’re right. We might just make it worse. Yeah, we’ll call someone.” Phil unlocked his phone and opened up his contacts, scrolling through until he found the right number. Dialling, he pressed the phone to his ear-then pulled it away almost instantly. “No signal! Where on Earth doesn’t have signal these days?” He held the phone up to the ceiling, waving it back and forth-but no bars appeared.

 Another jolt of fear in Dan’s stomach. “I’ll try mine.” He pulled out his own phone and copied Phil. But it was fruitless. There was simply no signal.

 There was a moment of silence. Outside, leave rustled as the wind brushed through the branches. Dan could have sworn that an owl hooted.

 “I’m going to have to get out of the car.” said Phil. He reached over, and grasped the door handle-

 “ _No_!” Dan cried out, grabbing him by the back of the shirt. “Don’t!”

 Phil turned back, frowning. “What’s the matter?”

 “I…” Dan blinked, feeling a flush of pink spreading to his cheeks. “I just don’t think you should get out of the car, that’s all.”

 Phil paused-then, a small, confused laugh bubbled out of him. “Come on. Don’t be silly. It’s actually safer to get out of your car if you’re broken down on the road.”

 “Yeah, but…” Dan looked out at the forest around them. It was so dark-and so horribly quiet. It was as if there was no life at all. He had never felt so isolated.

 “Oh God, Dan, you’re not still thinking about the film, are you?” Phil shook his head, chuckling again. Still-his voice sounded a little bit strange. A little higher. A little quieter.

 “Of course not!” Dan managed to squeak. “I…I just don’t think it’s a good idea. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

 “Nothing is going to happen to me! What could happen?” Phil looked amused-but his eyes were very wide. Inside, Dan knew that he was no keener than Dan was on exiting the car. Still, as he looked down at his phone, he steeled himself. “Look, it’s either I get out of the car for five minutes or we sit here all night. Up to you.”

 Dan made to protest-then sighed. “Fine.”

 Phil gave a brave smile, before turning the handle of the door. “Watch me be hardcore!” Then, with a deep breath, he opened the door.

 A cold gust of air rushed into the car. Dan gasped a little at the crisp chill of the night wind. He shivered, even as Phil shut the door behind him. The cold did not seem to have been shut out. But there was nothing he could do but watch as Phil began to move round and about the car outside, holding his phone up in the air. He was shivering too-and Dan could not help but notice that his eyes were darting left and right into the trees around them. It was as if he was looking for something…

 Dan hugged his knees to his chest. Despite the fact that he knew, logically, that nothing was going to come running through the trees for Phil…he could not help but picture it. But then, as he thought on, there were very real dangers hiding on country roads at night. Every other week it seemed there was a story in the news of a person being found dismembered in a hole on a lonely country road just like this one…oh God, what if there was someone hiding in the shadows, looking for their next victim-and there was Phil, out in the open and distracted…

  _Stop it_ , Dan scolded himself fiercely. He was being ridiculous. The drama of the whole situation was going to his head. He had to calm down.

 “Ah!” Phil finally yelled triumphantly, his voice echoing through the emptiness as he held his phone up and to the left. Pressing dial once again, he leaned one knee on the car bonnet to get up high enough. Then, he was speaking.

 Dan let out an enormous sigh of relief. Just the reminder of civilisation was enough to calm him down. He shivered as he watched Phil reading out the car registration plate to the operator, pulling his jacket tighter around himself as he did so. How courageous he was, compared to how silly Dan was being…and yet Dan still watched him like a hawk, scanning the woods around him for any signs of danger.

 “They’ll be here in twenty minutes or so.” said Phil, bringing with him another rush of freezing night air as he climbed back into the car. “God, it’s cold in here, isn’t it? See!” He nodded proudly at Dan. “I survived the wilderness!”

 “Yes, you’re very brave and wonderful,” said Dan dryly. “I’m sure you deserve a medal.”

 “I’d rather have a blanket,” said Phil-then, he snapped his fingers. “I think there’s one in the boot.”

 “Oh really?” Dan looked up gratefully-blankets always seemed to make everything feel a little bit safer. “Go and get it then.”

 “Me?” Phil paused-then, he raised an eyebrow. “But I’ve already been out in the cold! _You_ should go and get it.” His eyes were shining, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Go on then. Off you go.”

 “ _What_?” Dan’s eyes widened to the size of plates, his body flinching away from Phil. “No! I’m not going out there!”

 “Knew it,” Phil grinned at him. “You _are_ still scared.”

 “Am not!” Dan protested-though he knew it was pointless now. “I just don’t think it’s the safest thing in the world to be wandering the countryside at night. Anyone could be out there, hiding in the trees. I don’t want my next public appearance to be on the bloody news.”

 “So you’ll let me be cold, then?” Phil wrapped his jacket tighter, making himself look small and sad. “You’ll let me shiver in the car rather than go and grab the blanket four feet away? I thought you loved me…”

 “Oh, stop it!” Dan shoved him gently in the side, though he was already weakening. “You can’t get around me.”

 “Yes I can.” said Phil, shrinking down even further in his seat and putting his hands together, as if in prayer. “ _Please_ , Danny? For me…”

 Something about those big, blue eyes and the pantomime of pleading snapped something into place inside Dan. With a sigh of resignation, he unwound his legs and grabbed the door handle. “I swear, Phil, if something murders me out there, I will haunt the ever-living hell out of you…”

 It took a considerable amount of energy for Dan to open the door. Even more for him to place his foot on the gravel of the road. It was a truly cold night. He wished he had a bigger jacket on as he stood upright, deciding to leave the door open behind him. Inside him, every inch of his being was pulling him back towards the safety of the car…with a terrific rush of adrenaline, he ran faster than he had ever moved in his life to the back of the vehicle. Opening the boot, he groped inside in the dark for what felt like a year before his fingers finally closed on soft material. With a sigh of relief, Dan prepared to dash back-

 But before he could do so…behind him, somewhere deep in the trees…there was a sudden noise.

 A rustle of leaves.

 A crack of a branch. 

 Dan froze.

 Every organ in his body ground to a halt. He could not move. He could not breathe.

 Then-

 “ _Oh my God_!”

 Dan sprinted back to the car, dived inside and slammed the door behind him.

 “ _What_?” Phil was astonished as Dan almost leapt right into his seat. “What’s wrong? You just _ran_ -hey, who are you, and what have you done with my Dan?”

 “There’s something out there!” Dan gasped out, panting and frantic. He pressed up against the window, scouring the woods for movement. Though he was so scared that he hardly dared to look. “There’s something in the trees!”

 Phil stared for a moment, taking this in. Then-he chortled. “Oh, Dan!” He shook his head fondly. “Of course there’s nothing out there! Oh, baby, you’ve really got yourself into a state…your mind is playing tricks on you, that’s all.” He took the blanket from Dan-red tartan patterned-and wrapped it gratefully around his shoulders. “Come on, we might as well sit tight and get comfortable.”

 “No!” Dan insisted, searching every inch of the forest floor-though every instinct he had was telling him to duck down and hide. “I know I heard something!”

 Phil looked at him, his eyes narrowed. “Are you alright?”

 “No, I’m not bloody alright!” Dan snapped. He could feel his hands becoming clammy. “We are in the middle of nowhere, alone, and we can’t move! Anyone could be out there!”

 “Any _thing_ , you mean.” Phil murmured, snorting. “ _Daniel…Daniel_ …”

 “Will you _stop_ it!” Dan shouted, colour flooding to his pale cheeks. He was beginning to panic.

 “Hey, hey!” Suddenly serious, Phil reached out and put his hands gently on Dan’s shoulders. “Oh, you’re shaking!” Gently, he pulled Dan away from the window and back into his seat. “Shh…come on.” He took his hands tenderly, but firmly. “Look, I’m sorry for laughing at you. But you have to admit that you’re being just a little bit silly. I promise you, Dan, there is nothing out there that could possibly hurt you. It’s just a dark road, that’s all. Exactly the same one we drove here on. And we’re safe in the car.” Smiling softly, he leaned over and kissed Dan’s cheek. “My puns are the scariest thing around here.”

 Dan took several deep breaths, trying to level himself out. Then, with a sigh-he nodded. “You’re right…about the puns, anyway.”

 “Yep,” Phil agreed lightly, leaning back in his seat and pulling the blanket tighter around himself. He shut his eyes contentedly. “ _Daniel…Daniel_ …” he hissed under his breath.

 “ _I swear to God, Phil_ -“

 “Oh, don’t be such a grumpy-face!” Phil chuckled at him, before opening his arms wide. “Come here.”

 “I hate you so much…” Dan muttered darkly-but still, he leaned over the handbrake and leaned against Phil, allowing him to wrap the blanket around him as he snuggled in. “This is just for warmth, mind. I still haven’t forgiven you for making me go out there…”

 “You were very brave,” said Phil, kissing his curls. “Except when you weren’t.”

 “Wanker…”

 “You are _so_ mean…”

 There was a comfortable silence for a long moment as Dan leaned into him, calming his nerves. As much as he hated to admit it, Phil was right. Of course there was nothing out there. It must have been his imagination, making something scary out of a perfectly normal night-time noises. How ridiculous. Besides-did Dan, in his sound, sane mind, really believe that there was some sort of demon outside? Surely not…surely-

 “What’s that?”

 Dan looked up to see Phil. Only now-he was ghostly white. And he was pointing beyond the windscreen.

 “What?”

 “Dan…” Phil’s voice was suddenly hushed and gasping. “… _there’s something in the trees_ …”

 Dan gaped for a moment-before spluttering with laughter. “Oh darling, don’t you think it’s getting a bit old now?”

 “ _Shhh_!” Phil was as still as a statue, his eyes fixed entirely forward. “Dan…” he whispered. “Dan, _look_.”

 Still completely of the belief that Phil was having him on, Dan straightened up, rolling his eyes, and looked through the glass. He followed Phil’s finger until he saw-

  _Oh God_.

 Deep within the darkness of the forest, in a dense thicket of trees…there was a shape. A luminous, white shape.

  _White fur_. And the demon, too, had…

 Dan was frozen dead.

 It was impossible. Completely and entirely impossible. There was simply no way on earth that such a thing could be standing upright in the British countryside. It had to be some kind of illusion, a trick of the light, _anything_. But, no matter how much Dan blinked, how much he shook his head, how much he squeezed his eyes shut, willing it to be gone the next time he looked-the white shape neither moved, nor changed. It wasn’t light. It was solid matter. And…from the glimmer of its fiery amber eyes…it was facing this way.

 They were trapped, alone, at night-with a _creature_ staring straight at them.

 Dan’s heart had leapt into his throat. It was beating so hard that it was almost painful. There was a terrible roaring in his ears as he tried desperately to make sense of what was going on. But there was nothing in his mind but pure, primal _fear_.

 “… _Dan_ …” Phil whispered, his voice barely audible. “… _Dan…do you see it_?”

 “… _Y-yes_ …” Dan found his voice, finding that he was quaking with fright. He edged back closer into Phil-whose arms wrapped so tightly around him that he could hardly breathe. “ _I…I see it_ …”

 Phil gulped, his fingers digging into Dan’s arms. “ _What…what is it_?”

 “ _I don’t know_ …” Dan whispered, trembling. There was such coldness inside him, as if fear had drained all warmth from his body. “ _Phil…what do we do_?”

 “ _I don’t know_ …” Phil’s voice sounded distant, disconnected. Dan could feel his heart thumping against his back. It seemed that right at that moment, Phil truly understood how very alone they were. There was no life around them for miles, no one who knew where they were, no phone signal, nothing. And there was a _creature_ staring-

 That was the moment that the white, luminous shape began to move.

 It came oddly, swaying from side to side as if it was broken. Gradually, as it got closer to the car-it began to _grow_.

 Dan gave a shuddering gasp, pressing himself as close to Phil as he possibly could. The _creature_ was coming right for them.

 “ _Oh God_ …” Phil sounded more terrified than Dan had heard anyone in his life. What was to happen? They could only watch, helplessly, as the _creature_ moved closer and closer…the utter darkness surrounding it brought out the white of its fur…there seemed to be a horrifying red _glow_ emanating from it. It was an utterly petrifying thing. And it was getting closer, and closer…

 “ _Phil_ …” Dan whispered, tears beginning to spring to his eyes. He covered Phil’s hand with his own, shaking, one, and spoke with a voice that was not his. “ _Phil, I’m so sorry…I’m sorry…I love you_ …“

 A terrible, endless silence.

 But, before another word could be uttered-right at that moment-in less than a second…the _creature_ ran straight out into the headlamps.

 Dan’s mouth fell open to scream-

 But no sound came out.

 For, as the creature was bathed in the yellow glow… _orange_ fur appeared around the white. The strange white shape softened in the centre of the beast into a long, white nose, neck and chest. Above it-a pair of pointed, orange ears, two beady yellow eyes-and a long, bushy tail fanned out behind it. It was…a fox.

 Neither Dan nor Phil could move from shock.

 The fox trotted out into the middle of the road, and looked all about. She sniffed the air, her white nose twitching in the night air. Then, once she was sure that there was no danger-she made a strange, bleating call.

 Suddenly, out of the undergrowth amongst the trees-four more luminous white shapes appeared. This time-they were small. Very, very small. Eight beady yellow eyes twinkled in the darkness, growing larger and closer as-into the light of the headlamps came four tiny little fox-cubs, trotting curiously after their mother. They were a little unsteady on their miniature, muddy paws, sniffing all around them as they explored this new world.

 Once the mother fox had done a headcount to ensure that all of her young were with her, tenderly licking each one as she went-with another bleating call, she lead them across the road and into the forest beyond. As they disappeared-they left an ordinary, every-day sort of wonder behind them. A special kind of magic.

 There was silence in the car for a few seconds as Dan and Phil took in what they had just witnessed.

 Then-

 “You _twat_!” Dan yelled, darting away from Phil’s arms and back into his own seat. “You bloody idiot!”

 “Oh my God, did you see the baby foxes?” Phil exclaimed, leaning forward over the steering wheel to see if they were still visible. He was beaming as he searched the trees, his eyes shining. “They were the cutest things I have ever seen in my life! So _fluffy_! I want one! Screw that, I want twelve!”

 “Bastard things!” Dan shouted angrily, his voice an octave higher than normal. He was not really angry at the foxes-but he could feel his cheeks flush bright red with embarrassment and fury. “They nearly gave me a heart attack!”

 “Oh, lighten up!” Phil looked over at him-then, both of them shared a silly, breathless giggle. How stupid they both were! So wound up because of a stupid film... “Okay, this is the last time that we ever leave the flat after dark! It is officially too dangerous!”

 “Way too dangerous…” Dan agreed, sniggering. Then-he gasped with rage. “Phil, how come, when we both thought that we were going to die, you didn’t tell me that you loved me back?”

 “Wait- _what_?”

 “When I told you I loved you? You were going to let me die without knowing that you loved me too?”

 “Dan, you are _impossible_!” Phil roared with laughter-then put on a high-pitched, mocking Southern accent. “ _Oh Phil, I’m sorry, I love you_!”

 “I am going to _kill_ you!”

 “ _Daniel, Daniel, I’m going to eat your soul_!”

 “That’s it! Phil, you are a dead man! I’m going to- _aarrgghh_!”

 Dan screamed with terror, jumping a foot in the air and grasping at Phil’s arm as a burst of intensely bright lights suddenly appeared, like a UFO landing, in the road in front of them. Then, less than a second later-with a huge burst of shame, Dan realised that it was merely another set of headlamps. At long last-the breakdown vehicle had arrived.

 Dan let out the most enormous sigh of relief of his life. Then…slowly, he turned to Phil. Who was pressing his lips together in an effort not to laugh so hard that he looked as if he might explode.

 “Don’t say a _fucking_ word, Lester...”  


End file.
